Does your baby or child need an Australian Passport overseas?
If navigating bureaucracy is your idea of hell, you’ve found the right place! I’ve done the research and followed the instructions so you can skip straight to getting it done.
After living in Germany for four years, I’m a master at beating bureaucracy and surfing wave after wave of pointless paperwork.
Raising bilingual, dual-citizen children means I’ve encountered bureaucracy on both continents for all of life’s major events: births, visas, passports, school enrolments and more. Oh, so much more.
So I mean it when I say that this process really isn’t so bad.
Let’s dive into how to get your foreign-born baby an Australian passport overseas.
Jump ahead if you just need to renew an Australian Passport overseas.
Can my baby born overseas get an Australian Passport?
In a nutshell, yes. If they are already a citizen of Australia.
Passports are physical evidence of our citizenship. They signal where we’re from and which government is responsible for us (both in times of good and bad) while travelling.
A passport entitles you to enter other countries and participate in life in that country according to strict rules. We know these typically as visas.
Without a passport, there’s no visa. And without a visa, there’s no accessing foreign countries.
BUT.
Without citizenship, there is no passport.
Please don’t confuse citizenship and passports as being the same thing. They’re not.
Your baby first needs to receive Australian citizenship. Then you can apply for an Australian passport on your baby’s behalf.
How do I know if my baby is an Australian citizen?
If your baby was born in Australia to Australian parents, then your baby is an Australian citizen. Very easy. Thank you very much.
On the other hand, of your baby was born overseas (as I imagine is the case or why else would you want to apply for an Australian passport overseas?), you need to apply to the Australian Government for Australian citizenship.
Another layer of bureaucracy? You better believe it.
If you haven’t done this, check out my guide to applying for Australian citizenship for your foreign-born baby.
When Australian citizenship is granted to your tiny person, you’ll receive one of these pretty certificates. Keep it safe. You’ll need it for the passport application.
How to Apply for Baby’s First Australian Passport
It’s time to pull out your paperwork and get the application process started.
What’s a bureaucratic process without paperwork?
Answer: a day well spent. Alas, this is a bureaucratic process, so let’s go.
Australian bureaucracy is pretty straightforward. The entire application document is completed online.
At every stage of the process, the online system will give you handy explanations and tips to ensure you get it right the first time.
But in the end, you still have to print it out and have it physically signed by both parents and a guarantor.
You even get a mini craft project: glueing two photos of your beautiful baby onto the form.
Step 1: Proof of Identity paperwork
Have your identity documents with you before you try to tackle the application forms. This will save you a lot of bother later on.
Here’s a list of what you can expect to need:
- Birth certificate of your child.
- Proof of your child’s Australian citizenship.
- Proof of your identity (birth certificate or passport).
- Evidence of parent’s Australian citizenship (Birth Certificate, Passport or Certificate of Australian citizenship).
- Proof of any name changes for you or your child (including if you changed your name when you were married).
- Evidence of your current address (Identity card in the country you’re currently residing in).
- If relevant, any legal arrangements relating to your child’s care.
- Other documents may be required depending on your child’s situation.
If these documents were not granted in Australia, don’t forget that they must be translated to be accepted.
Step 2: Find a Guarantor
Tara, what the heck is a Guarantor?
I know! It’s just bureaucracy-speak for a person who confirms your child’s identity.
This person has to be:
- An Australian citizen,
- Not related to your child in any way through birth or marriage,
- Not sharing an address with your child and
- Have known your child for at least 12 months (if your baby is less than 12 months old, then the guarantor must have known them since birth).
It can be tough to find someone who meets these criteria while living abroad!
If you absolutely don’t have any Australian friend or acquaintance in your new home, then you’ll need someone who is:
- of any nationality,
- has known your child for at least 12 months (or their entire life if they’re under one year old)
- practices in one of the professions listed by your nearest Embassy.
If you’re in this camp, consider approaching your child’s paediatrician to confirm your child’s identity. Medical doctors are always trusted professionals and will likely have known your child since birth.
What does a guarantor do?
The guarantor is a trusted, not-related-to-the-child adult who confirms that the child in the photo is really the child named on the application form.
The guarantor will need to be named on the passport application form, including identity and contact information. Your guarantor will have to sign both:
- The application form (once you’ve printed it out) and
- the back of the child’s photo.
Given that you have to name the guarantor in the application forms, it’s best to ask them to be your guarantor before you start the process.
It just speeds up things a little bit for you.
Do I really need a guarantor for my passport application abroad?
Yes. You really do.
I know it can be tough to find someone that meets these requirements when you’re living abroad.
And I know that even if you do have someone who fits the bill, sometimes it can be a bit awkward asking them for their passport details.
But the rules are clear: no guarantor, no passport application.
Step 3: Passport photo of your Australian Baby
Again, in favour of having everything ready to go once you hit print on your application form, I recommend getting the passport photos of your cutie patootie first.
Finding a service to complete this task for you should be easy enough. Getting your baby or toddler to cooperate with the process is another matter!
Check the complete guide for Australian passport photos before submitting your application.
The two things we struggled with the most in getting these photos done with our little ones were:
- having our infant’s eyes open and looking at the camera,
- convincing our toddler to stop smiling and to close her mouth,
- getting either of them to sit still for the photographer.
It might take a few attempts and probably (most definitely) also a little bit of patience.
Can I just take the passport photo myself?
The Australian Passport Office recommends only using a professional photographer for passport photos.
However.
When I applied for my youngest’s first passport here in Germany, the professional photo was rejected. Why? Because she had a wide, open-mouthed smile on her face.
Super cute but not passport appropriate.
For the second photo, we took a dozen photos of her at home and uploaded them to a passport photo checking site online. It automatically removed the background and checked the quality of the photo against the passport requirements.
IT WAS ACCEPTED.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that you should ignore the official advice. It’s just me sharing a short cut I took when I was under pressure to email an updated photo for my daughter’s passport application (I desperately wanted to avoid a second trip to Berlin!).
Here are the Australian Passport Office’s official photo requirements.
Step 4: Online Portal setup
Now that you have a neat bundle of paper sitting next to you, you’re going to set up an online account with the Australian Passport Office.
Here, you can manage and complete the passport application for your baby. You can also use this account to manage your own passport renewals down the line.
You are required to set-up multi-factor security, so be prepared to receive verification codes to your primary email, your mobile phone and a secondary email address as well.
Once you’re all done, your screen should look like this:
Step 4: Complete the online application
Select “Start renewal/ passport application” to get started.
On the first page, select that you will be lodging the application “Overseas” and that the application is for a “Child”. Press “Next”.
Read through the instructions on this page and select “Accept” at the bottom. You will then see that the application form fields automatically populate on the left-hand side.
Now, continue to fill-in the fields until you’re finished.
Remember that you can always save your application and return to it later if you need to.
Step 5: Print, sign & book an appointment
You’re done!
Print out all of the pages in regular black and white.
Make sure both parents sign in the right places and have your guarantor sign the back of the photograph.
As we’re applying for a child’s passport, you will have to lodge this application in person at your nearest Australian Consulate or Embassy.
Annoying, I know, but it’s just this once. All renewal applications can be completed by post.
Check the website of your nearest Australian embassy or consulate to make an appointment.
Read my top tips to overcome homesickness as a parent living abroad.
Lodgement Costs
Some Embassies and Consulates will charge for their time for in-person applications. Bonkers given that you have to lodge the application in person, but there you go. Bureaucracy.
It will vary between locations, but here in Berlin there’s a lodgement fee for a single application but is free to lodge more than one at a time.
Why?!
I don’t know. But to save myself the fee, I elected to lodge a passport renewal application for my older daughter at the same time.
Yes, I still had to pay for the applications (of course!), but I avoided the additional fee for the Bureaucrats time.
That clerk position seems like a plum job. I want in!
How to Renew your child‘s Australian passport overseas
If your Australian child needs a new passport because the expiry date is rapidly approaching, you will not have to personally attend an Australian Embassy or Consulate.
Like applying for a new Australian passport for a foreign-born child, you will need to complete the application form online, print it off, have it signed and glue the photo of your child to it.
The only difference is that you can apply by post rather than in person.
So, to renew your child’s Australian passport overseas, follow the handy dandy 5-steps above.
How much does it cost?
Applying for an Australian passport overseas for your foreign-born baby will set you back $288 (that’s Australian dollars).
The cost is the same to renew your child’s Australian passport overseas.
Additional fees may be charged in the following circumstances:
- Replacing a lost passport,
- Requiring express processing and delivery,
- Additional lodgement fees (dependent on your nearest Consulate or Embassy).
These costs do not include:
- The price of passport photos,
- Translation costs (if required),
- Transport to and from the Australian Consulate or Embassy to apply in person, or
- Postal costs when applying by mail.
Before lodging your application, please check the up-to-date prices with the Australian Passport Office.
How long does it take?
The Australian Passport Office advises that all applications for Australian Passports overseas are typically completed within 6 weeks.
My experience was, surprisingly, even faster than that.
The renewed passport for my eldest was delivered to our door step within three weeks.
The new passport for my foreign-born baby took a little longer because the photo we’d submitted was rejected.
Once a new photo was submitted, the passport was delivered to us in a little more than two weeks.
What if I’m travelling?
Express processing options are available for an additional fee.
When completing the application form, include your planned travel date to ensure timely processing.
However, we are dealing with a government agency. Despite their best efforts, sometimes they’re unable to stick to their expected time frames.
Be as organised as possible!
Get your application in nice and early to avoid any stress before your travel.
How long is the passport valid?
Children’s passports are valid for five years.
For anyone over the age of 16, passports are valid for 10 years.
Does my foreign-born baby need an Australian Passport?
Technically, no. If your family plan to stay in your new country of residence and never cross it’s national borders, your baby will probably be fine without an Australian Passport.
But.
Anytime you plan to travel with your baby, then they will always need a valid passport.
If your child is a citizen of more than one country, then maybe they will have a passport only from the other country. That’s ok.
Reasons in favour of getting an Australian Passport Overseas for your child
- Australian citizens must enter Australia with an Australian Passport.
So, if you’re planning a trip to visit home and your little human is an Australian citizen, they need an Australian passport.
If your family members are dual citizens like mine, the number of passports we need when travelling is a little crazy. We need 7 for the four of us (I’m the only non-dual national among us!).
- It may be required by local authorities in your current country of residence.
If your child holds only Australian citizenship, local authorities may require your child to have a passport as proof of identity.
Be sure to carefully check all requirements with the relevant government authority in your city or country of residence.
- Your child already has one but it will soon expire
It’s always easier to renew a passport than to start the process all over again.
If your child already has an Australian passport, then simply renew it when the time comes.
Reasons against getting an Australian Passport overseas for your child
The cost
Australian passports are expensive. And they need to be renewed every five years for children.
That’s almost AU $300 every five years.
Consider if there is any value in getting your child an Australian Passport.
If you’re not planning to travel to Australia and you’re not required to have one by local authorities, it may just be a very expensive book.
For example, our children hold both German and Australian citizenship. When we travel around Europe, it is better to use their German passports.
They only need their Australian passports to enter Australia.
That’s why my youngest didn’t have an Australian Passport until she was two years old – right before we return to Australia.
Placating the Passport Process
So, now you’re ready to bombard this bureaucratic task.
Consider if there’s value in obtaining an Australian Passport overseas for your child. It is an expensive process.
If you decide to go ahead and get your child an Australian Passport overseas, I hope you found my guide helpful.
Have you applied for an Australian Passport overseas for your child? Let me know how it went in the comments.
